Conventionally, setting information and internally held information of a device are no more than initial values or information set by a user. Even when an environment or a situation is changed, it is not possible to change the settings in response to the change. Therefore, the user carries out setting changes, or addition or deletion of information corresponding to the environment or the situation as necessary.
Accordingly, a configuration of an electronic device has been conceived that acquires information from outside and changes setting items as appropriate. More specifically, there is an electronic device known to carry out operations based on external information by acquiring the external information and by automatically changing the setting information of the electronic device in accordance with a flow programmed in advance without an operation of the user.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-004879
However, with conventional technologies, it is not possible to set a device in a desirable device state in response to the situations of surrounding devices. More specifically, it is not possible to entrust a system to determine what the situation is based on information of a plurality of surrounding devices, and what to do in particular situations. Therefore, the data and services of the device may be separated from the surrounding devices, the situation, or the environment.
The separation from surrounding devices is exemplified. When extension numbers of all associated departments are registered as initial data on a house phone used in an office, a registering operation occurs each time a new phone is purchased. At present, even though a house phone in one department has virtually the same initial data registered, it is not possible to perform an operation to set exactly the same initial data in the newly purchased phone. In this example, the information held in the device is separated from the surrounding devices. In another example, even when all other cellular phones present in a meeting room are set in silent mode, the setting of your own cellular phone is not affected at all and your cellular phone only may ring during a meeting. In this example, the setting information of the device is separated from the surrounding devices.
The separation from the surrounding situation or environment is exemplified. In a room for a meeting, even when there are some document files and such used for the meeting, it is difficult to obtain the file data upon entering the meeting room as a trigger or to delete unnecessary files upon leaving the meeting room. In this example, the information held in the device is separated from the environment. In another example, in a lecture hall, even when there is a rule that cellular phones must be set in silent mode, it is not possible to enforce the rule on cellular phones. In this example, the setting information of the device is separated from the environment.
These examples can be an issue even for home electric appliances or server machines. However, particularly with mobile terminals such as cellular phones, PDAs, and notebook PCs, as their locations of use and surrounding environments often change, in terms of being troublesome to change the settings each time they change, there are many occasions where the application of the technologies disclosed herein is expected.